Trade unions warn of more strikes

New Delhi, Feb 22 (IANS) Terming the 48-hour all-India strike coordinated by major trade unions "successful and widely supported", trade union representatives said Friday that more agitations would occur if the government did not heed their demands.

"The 48-hour strike on Wednesday and Thursday was successful and widely supported. But the two-day strike is not an end. We will have bigger agitations if our demands are not met. All the trade unions will be meeting again to work out a strategy and we will again put our demands before the government. We are likely looking at another strike," P. Jayaraju of the Indian National Trade Union Congress told IANS.

The two-day strike had been called jointly by 11 trade unions, demanding concrete measures for containing inflation, steps for employment generation, universal social security, and making the minimum wage Rs.10,000 per month, along with daily allowance.

Meanwhile, autorickshaw and taxi unions have said they will go on a strike from 4 p.m. March 1 if the price of CNG is not rolled back.

"We have given six days' time to the Delhi government. If there is no rollback of CNG prices, we will go on indefinite strike from March 1 4 p.m. We have not decided for how many days we will strike work," Rajendra Soni, president of the Bharat Auto-rickshaw Chaalak Sangh (autorickshaw drivers' union) told IANS.

He also said that there were no plans to stage a dharna March 1 outside Lt Governor Tejendra Khanna's office.

"We have been waiting for the government to revise auto fares, especially after CNG prices were hiked nine times last year alone. This is not acceptable. We are not getting any cooperation or response from the government," Soni said.

The autorickshaw and taxi unions have also claimed that the "routine harassment" meted out by policemen to drivers should stop.

"Police are not issuing challans and have been impounding vehicles for 15 to 20 days; the fine alone comes up to Rs.5,000 to Rs.10,000. This means huge losses for the driver who lives on a daily wage," said Soni.

"If our demands are not met, we will go on an indefinite strike from March 1. This will continue till the Delhi government accedes to our demands," Soni said.